Last year after the Rangers made their first ever trip to the World Series and the Dallas Mavericks won their first NBA title, Dallas was named Best Sports City of 2011. Well, since then things have kinda gone south for the home town favorites.
Sure the Rangers made it back to the World Series, but just ended up being a bigger disappointment when they ran into the team of destiny that was the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals.
The Mavs got an extended offseason thanks to the NBA lockout, but still managed to let two of the biggest pieces from that championship team go in free agency. Tyson Chandler moved on to the Knicks and J.J. Barea followed the big bucks to Minnesota, and who can really blame them? Apparently both players were upset by the Mavs lack of pursuit and offering shorter contracts. The Mavericks ended up bringing in several veteran guys on one year deals (Vince Carter, Delonte West, and most notably Lamar Odom) with hopes of filling in the blanks to be competitive this year, and more importantly, freeing up cap space when these contracts expire at the end of the season. This could turn out to be a great plan if they are able to woo the two big free agents in 2012 Dwight Howard and hometown boy Deron Williams, but if not, they could end up with just an aging roster and a fading memory of championship glory for the next decade.
So far so mediocre for the defending Champs. After a slow start, the Mavs finally are staring to show a little life. After back to back road wins (the first road wins of the short season), the Mavericks are finally above .500 for the first time all season. At 6-5 the Mavs are only a game out of first in the Southwest Division to the hated Spurs, but hot young teams around the league like OKC and Miami are already off to quick starts. Can this group of veterans find the chemistry to get things together and make a run in a shortened 66-game season?
The most disappointing team has to be the always beloved Dallas (Arlington) Cowboys. Things were set up so nicely this year for the Cowboys. The NFC East was as inconsistent as it probably ever has been. The "Dream Team" that was to be the Eagles was a nightmare most of the season. The Giants were a Jeckle and Hyde team, winning tough games at New England and then losing at home to the Seahawks. And do we even need to mention the Redskins? In the end, embarrassing losses to the Eagles and Giants to end the season kept the Cowboys out of the postseason. To make matters worse, little brother down in Houston actually did make the playoffs for the first time in their ten year history (especially worse for a Cowboy's fan who actually resides in Houston). The spunky little Texans achieved this feat despite losing both their number one and number two quarterbacks, left to rely on an unproven rookie 5th round draft pick. And wouldn't you know it, they actually won a playoff game with him as well. Throw in the fact that most of the credit for their run is given to former Cowboy's head coach and current Texan's defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, and that T.J. Yates has the same number of playoff wins as Tony Romo, it is all just salt in the wound.
Well, 2012 is a whole new year. Maybe our beloved teams can turn things around. I just hate that the most exciting sports story for us in early January is Yu Darvish.
